Event Information
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Date(s):
Tuesday, August 17, 2021
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Time:
12:00 pm to 1:30 pm Eastern Time
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Location:
Online
In a uniquely challenging year, six museums have been recognized by the American Alliance of Museums’ Environment and Climate Network as exemplars in the field of museum sustainability. The 2021 Sustainability Excellence Awards committee received applications from museums across the country dedicated to advancing thoughtful museum practice while operating under the additional constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year the Environment and Climate Network invites you to a two part series with our winners. Come hear the thought processes, lessons learned, and encouraging takeaways from museums of all scopes and sizes leading the industry to a more sustainable future!
Speakers:
Museum of Modern Art
Jean Savistky, Director of Real Estate and Sustainability
Rebecca Riss, LEED AP BD+C, SITES AP for Atelier Ten
MoMA has achieved LEED v2009 ID+C: CI Platinum, exemplary energy savings, and embodied carbon reductions in a complex museum typology with a fine art collection. As a result, the expansion project is designed to reduce annual energy cost by 48% over the ASHRAE 90.1-2007 baseline and the anticipated building energy use intensity is approximately 90 kBtu/ft2-yr. The dense urban location added to construction challenges to build green. Nonetheless, the team made significant advances in recycling, high air quality, water savings, high-efficiency lighting, and thermal comfort while opening the museum doors wider to the public. The project contributes toward New York City’s goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% from 2005 levels by 2050.
Missouri Botanical Garden
Jean Ponzi, Green Resources Manager & Manager of St. Louis Green Business Challenge
The Missouri Botanical Garden has been awarded a programming award for its expansive and long-running green mentorship program. Sharing its own lessons learned through green operations, the Green Business Challenge uses familiar tools in a voluntary program aimed at assisting businesses of any size or scope in creating positive change internally and in their communities. Networking, mentorship, and shared resources have resulted in re-participation rates of 65%, the creation of Green Teams and Sustainability Policy in 50 local institutions, removal and catalogue of invasive species and reintegration of native species on two business campuses, city-wide greenhouse gas inventories, and the diversion of 1,410, 812 pounds of electronic waste from landfills. In the 12 years of the Challenge, community involvement, education, and scalability have resulted in a continuously expanding program incorporating every facet of sustainability.
Burke Museum
Kate Fernandez, Director of Interpretation and Visitor Experience
Edward Lalonde, Principal for Olsen Kundig
The Burke Museum in Seattle, WA represents efficiency in space usage and inventiveness in programming. By turning its building inside out, a “glass box” allows the collections to be visible from the exterior of the building, significantly expanding physical accessibility and transparency in the workspaces. The museum’s ongoing relationship with tribes and indigenous communities is celebrated through knowledge exchange and this new dimension of cultural equity. Additionally, a native ethnobotanical landscape benefits from 100% storm water used on site. The museum has integrated both water and carbon reduction into its exhibits. The new LEED Gold building has a smaller physical footprint than the original building and features a new natural wood exterior encouraging wider natural material use in American cultural architecture.
Click here to register!
The statements and opinions expressed by panelists, hosts, attendees, or other participants of this event are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of, nor are endorsed by, the American Alliance of Museums.